According to the Wall Street Journal, the European Union fined Apple 500 million euros (approximately $568 million) and Meta €200 million euros (approximately $227 million).
The EU accused Apple of failing to comply with its obligation to allow app developers to notify customers of alternative ways to purchase digital products.
Regarding Meta, the EU has said it must stop asking its Instagram and Facebook users to agree to personalized ads or be forced to pay for subscriptions. The committee is deciding whether to accept Meta’s “less personalised advertising” option.
The EU also issued a halt order for businesses when tensions between the bloc and the US were higher than trade policies, and President Donald Trump’s support for Ukraine faded. Trump has characterized EU technical regulations as a non-tariff barrier to trade and threatened to respond to rules that involve tariffs.
Both Apple and Meta have said they will appeal the EU’s decision.
Apple said in a statement that the EU is “unfairly” targeting the company, and that the decision is “bad to users’ privacy and security, the products, and forces them to provide technology for free.”
Joel Caplan, Meta’s chief global affairs officer, denounced the committee for “successfully ensuring that Chinese and European companies can operate under different standards.”
“This is not about fines. The committee that forces us to change our business model effectively imposes multi-billion dollar tariffs on the meta, demanding that we provide inferior services,” Kaplan continued.
This article has been updated in a statement from Apple and Meta.
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